


Re: re: Lee Seung-gi and other stories (Fic Amnesty Collection)

by bysine



Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: AMNESTY FIC POST, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Office, Gen, M/M, Producers AU, Television, Time Travel, sequels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 10:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21195809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bysine/pseuds/bysine
Summary: I have been making little headway on some JJP things I've been working on, and decided it might be better to just post the lot as they've currently been written instead of leaving them to stew. So here's a collection of sequels of sorts (and one not!fic that I bellowed at forochel about on telegram):1. Re: re: Lee Seung-gi -- a follow up toPotato Fic2. Time Slip Drama -- in which Crown Prince Jinyoung time travels to our reality3. An AU in which Got7 debuted as Geuk7 (I have no excuse for this)4. A short snippet set in PDs!AU inspired by Another Jaebeom Outfit (tm)





	1. Re: re: Lee Seung-gi

**Author's Note:**

> This is not to say that there will be no other Got7-related or Got7-adjacent fic in the future, but at the moment I think I have... probably entered a bit of a fallow period, writing-wise. Thank you so very much for the warm welcome and lovely, kind comments given to a temporary lodger such as myself; it's been a BLAST and also Got7 is so good in the face!!!!
> 
> <33333333

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From my messages to forochel: "last night before I went to sleep I was like... would I write a whole thing of office au just for the express purpose of naming it? "Re: re: lee seung-gi"??? the answer is probably YES"
> 
> So I wrote... 1/3 of a thing.

There is a pair of beautiful charcoal-coloured trousers lying crumpled in Jaebeom’s path to the kitchen that morning. On top of it lies a gorgeous white shirt, which Jaebeom knows -- if only by osmosis -- is made of a Pima Cotton Royal Oxford fabric only seasonally available at Jinyoung’s tailor. Then Jaebeom glances to the right, and -- sure enough -- sees Jinyoung’s socks lying just a few feet away. If he backtracks a little, Jaebeom knows, he will likely find Jinyoung’s undershirt on the floor, halfway to the bed. 

It is too early for this. 

Jaebeom steps over the pile and goes to start on breakfast. And then, when he’s got the beansprout soup at a low simmer and the rice cooker going, he shuffles back towards the room and gathers all the clothes into his arms, approaching the bed -- his bed -- on which Jinyoung is asleep, rolled up in the sheets like one of his sad radish-only kimbaps. 

“Jinyoung-ah,” says Jaebeom, climbing into bed with the armful of laundry. “Jinyoungie.” 

He shuffles on his knees until he’s straddling the portion of the sheet-kimbap that is Jinyoung’s thighs, and flops forward onto Jinyoung, squashing the laundry between them. 

“Hmmph,” Jinyoung mumbles, stirring a little at the sudden press of Jaebeom on top of him.

“We talked about this,” says Jaebeom, pulling out a shirtsleeve and batting Jinyoung gently on the chin with a French cuff. “Jinyoung-ah. Laundry doesn’t belong on the floor.” 

Jinyoung cracks open one eye; grins that sleepy grin of his when he sees that it’s Jaebeom. “Hyung,” he murmurs, sounding happy and half-asleep, “you’re here.” He slips one bare arm out of the sheet-kimbap to hook around Jaebeom’s neck, pulling him close not even to kiss him but just to press his cheek to Jaebeom’s face. His breaths even back out like he is drifting off again.

Perhaps, Jaebeom thinks, this may not have been the best time to have this conversation. Not with Jinyoung so soft and heavy-eyed, with his stubbly chin and clinging limbs. ‘A Couple’s Guide To Communication’ does say at chapter three that timing and agenda are crucial to having tough conversations. Except chapter five also says that broaching difficult topics is best done in a relaxed and happy setting, and Jinyoung is never more relaxed and happy than when he’s dead asleep in bed. 

The lid on his beansprout soup starts to rattle. With some difficulty, Jaebeom extricates himself to go rescue it. Then he returns to the bed, picks up Jinyoung’s clothes, and chucks them into the laundry hamper, feeling somehow defeated. 

\---

“I,” says Youngjae, pausing to take a drag of his cigarette, “am absolutely not here to listen to your relationship woes.” 

"They're not woes," says Jaebeom. "They're just… things that are happening. To me. To us."

"Do you know what else is happening to us?" says Youngjae. "Scope creep."

Jaebeom grimaces. Not a day goes by that they do not get some sort of email from their friends at the Ministry of Agriculture or some farmer’s union asking if the Gamja team can take some other kind of crop on tour with them. 

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Youngjae continues, “but I’m here to sell _potatoes_, not fucking Grade A Organic Korean Millet.” 

“I blame the television appearance,” says Jaebeom. “We should never have done that.” 

"I blame your utter inability to say no to Park Jinyoung," says Youngjae.

Jaebeom blinks. "Which one?"

"_Both_, you fuck."

"Have _you_ tried saying no to President Park?" Jaebeom counters. "He was doing 45 seconds of jumping lunges when he threw the millet portfolio into the mix. Just to be clear, he was lunging _at_ me."

"You know we could have pushed back after," says Youngjae. "Written some kind of compatibility report and recommended that it be kept in view for a future project."

"Yes, but--"

"But then the other Park Jinyoung in your life rested his chin on one hand and said, 'millet's pretty tasty', and now we’re one step closer to being renamed ‘Agriculture Team 1’,” Youngjae finishes. 

Jaebeom opens his mouth, and then shuts it, because what Youngjae says is not entirely inaccurate. Jinyoung does, inexplicably, like the taste of millet. Whether that had factored into Jaebeom’s decision to go along with President Park’s suggestion is a whole other matter. 

“We’ve done two potato tours,” says Jaebeom instead, “I thought we might want to diversify.” 

“You know, I’ve forgotten the smell of rivets,” Youngjae muses, staring out into the horizon like he’s Frodo on Mount Doom.

Jaebeom rolls his eyes. “You’ll find plenty of them to trip over in the level thirteen corridor.” 

Yugyeom and Hyun-jin are taste-testing three types of millet cake when Jaebeom returns. 

“TvN meeting,” says Yugyeom through a mouthful of cake, when he sees Jaebeom glancing in the direction of Jinyoung’s empty desk. 

“Yes,” says Jaebeom irritably, because of course he’s aware of where Jinyoung and Bambam have gone for the morning. One month ago, he and Jinyoung had sat down and synced their phone calendars so they no longer needed to spend precious seconds throughout the day rattling off their plans to each other. 

“We do work in the same office, you know,” Jinyoung had said, giving Jaebeom that opaque little sideways look of his. 

“Yeah, well, technically not in the same team,” Jaebeom had replied. 

In an excellent piece of manoeuvering on Director Jung’s part, they had managed to secure Youngjae’s continued participation in Special Team 1 by promoting him to Assistant Team Leader. 

Jinyoung, in the meantime, had moved one cubicle row to the left to become Assistant Team Leader for IT Sales Team 2, but on loan to Special Team 1 much in the same way that Jackson remained on loan from Textiles. Considering that IT Sales Team 2 was twice as large as Jaebeom’s, this had been a cause for celebration. It had also somewhat solved the niggling worry at the back of Jaebeom’s mind about Jinyoung continuing to report to him.

“If you say another word about conflicts of interest,” Jinyoung had told Jaebeom at dinner, the evening after the announcement, “I will fling this bagna càuda foam at your face.” 

“Oh fuck, not the _foam_,” Jaebeom had gasped in mock horror, and then he’d let Jinyoung flick a spoonful of it into his mouth just to see Jinyoung try to stifle his giggles in the very fancy, very stuffy, degustation-menu-only restaurant that Bambam had rustled up for Jaebeom at the last minute. 

Then they’d kicked each other under the table for the rest of the meal and gone back to Jaebeom’s in a hurry. Whereupon Jaebeom, worked up and desperate from three hours of playing footsie while being forced to eat increasingly smaller and smaller parcels of food, had growled some very urgent and embarrassing things against Jinyoung's skin on their way inside, including but not limited to “_I’ll deconflict your interests_”. And Jinyoung had laughed into the hollow of Jaebeom's neck; had crowded Jaebeom up against the bedroom door as he'd done so.

The next morning, Jaebeom had woken Jinyoung up to present him with the passcode to the apartment. 

“But I know it already,” Jinyoung had said, huddled sleepily in Jaebeom’s old Korea University hoodie, pushing up his glasses to squint at the piece of paper Jaebeom had handed him. 

“Well, I’d have given you a key, but there isn’t one,” Jaebeom had replied. 

Jinyoung had looked up at Jaebeom, who had been standing awkwardly by the bed. “I guess it must have really bothered you,” he had said, finally. “The whole Team Leader thing. I’m sorry I didn’t realise that.” 

The significance of the timing hadn't even occurred to Jaebeom. He had just woken up feeling strangely unburdened, and had decided, after five minutes of gazing at Jinyoung's drooling face, that it would be a good time to present him with metaphorical keys. 

"I wasn't--" he had begun, and then he'd paused, because Jinyoung had beenright. “I just didn’t want anyone to think…”

“Yeah,” Jinyoung had said. “I know.” Then he had set the piece of paper reverently down on the bedside table. "Thank you."

"I, uh, made some eggs," Jaebeom had said, because he hadn't quite known what to do about that tender look on Jinyoung's face.

"That sounds very nice," Jinyoung had replied, catching Jaebeom’s hand and tugging Jaebeom towards him. “But first,” Jinyoung had continued, curling his hands in Jaebeom’s pyjamas as he had pulled Jaebeom on top of him, "I happen to have some interests that need deconflicting."

\---

**From:** KUNPIMOOK BHUWAKUL <kunpimookbhuwakul@jypinternational.com>  
**To:** JAEBEOM IM <jaebeomim@jypinternational.com>; YUGYEOM KIM <yugyeomkim@jypinternational.com>; MARK TUAN <marktuan@jypinternational.com>; YOUNGJAE CHOI <youngjaechoi@jypinternational.com>; JACKSON WANG <jacksonwang@jypinternational.com>; HYUNJIN HWANG <hyunjinhwang@jypinternational.com>;  
**Cc:** JINYOUNG PARK <parkjinyoung2@jypinternational.com>  
**Subject:** tvN Update

Dear all,

Updated terms of the tvN sponsorship package attached. 

Also, Lee Seung-gi’s people got back to Na PD halfway through the meeting. The guest appearance is a go.

Attachment: tvN - TV Sponsorship Package - 3rd Variety Short Series.pdf

_Sent from my iPhone_

\---

**From:** JACKSON WANG <jacksonwang@jypinternational.com>  
**To:** KUNPIMOOK BHUWAKUL <kunpimookbhuwakul@jypinternational.com>; JAEBEOM IM <jaebeomim@jypinternational.com>; YUGYEOM KIM <yugyeomkim@jypinternational.com>; MARK TUAN <marktuan@jypinternational.com>; YOUNGJAE CHOI <youngjaechoi@jypinternational.com>; HYUNJIN HWANG <hyunjinhwang@jypinternational.com>;  
**Cc:** JINYOUNG PARK <parkjinyoung2@jypinternational.com>  
**Subject:** 1++ Hanwoo Beef

HEy Assistant Team Leader Park,

As you would recall, we had a bet.

Now that potato prince is on board, are you going to follow through or not?

Jackson WANG  
Textiles Team 3 | Special Team 1

Attachment: Premium Hanwoo BBQ Restaurants (v3 UPDATED - hhj).xls

\---

**From:** KUNPIMOOK BHUWAKUL <kunpimookbhuwakul@jypinternational.com>  
**To:** JAEBEOM IM <jaebeomim@jypinternational.com>; YUGYEOM KIM <yugyeomkim@jypinternational.com>; MARK TUAN <marktuan@jypinternational.com>; YOUNGJAE CHOI <youngjaechoi@jypinternational.com>; JACKSON WANG <jacksonwang@jypinternational.com>; HYUNJIN HWANG <hyunjinhwang@jypinternational.com>;  
**Cc:** JINYOUNG PARK <parkjinyoung2@jypinternational.com>  
**Subject:** Re: 1++ Hanwoo Beef

I just asked him; I think he said yes.

But he’s also just leaning his head against the window of the taxi and smiling at the clouds going past, so.

_Sent from my iPhone_

\---

Jaebeom sometimes thinks back with fondness to the days when he had no particular feelings about Lee Seung-gi. 

It had been a more carefree time, surely. A time when he could glance at a poster on the side of a bus or hear the strains of _Because You're My Woman_ and simply register it as, _oh, that guy from TV_ with no further consideration. 

Now, on the other hand. 

It's hard for Jaebeom to pinpoint the exact moment he realised that the genesis of Jinyoung's weird Lee Seung-gi vendetta had not in fact been simple outrage at Lee Seung-gi's scorning of the humble daeji potato, but a long and soulful crush that Jinyoung had harboured since the Nation's Younger Brother had burst into the public consciousness in his ill-fitting white suit and shaggy locks. 

It might have been the time the team had gone to a _noraebang_ and Jinyoung, cloistered _baduk_ student that he'd been, had simultaneously known (a) every single word of Lee Seung-gi's available discography, down to the exact frequency of his vibrato in the last line of _Will You Marry Me_; and (b) none of the other songs on the catalogue apart from _Pororo_. 

Or it might have been the time he'd gone over to Jinyoung's aunt's house when Jinyoung had been down with the worst flu imaginable, and discovered Jinyoung in a nest of blankets on the couch, nose streaming and teary-eyed as the last episode of _My Girlfriend is a Gumiho_ continued to play on the television. 

_I missed you_, Jaebeom had wanted to say, but it wasn't the sort of thing they said to each other. So, instead, he had staked his health and well-being on the flu vaccination he'd gotten the week before, and had wound his arms around Jinyoung, stroking the sticking-up tufts of hair on the top of his head. 

"They only have…" Jinyoung had hiccuped, wriggling a little so he could rest his head on Jaebeom's shoulder, "a hundred days together…"

"Haven't you watched this a thousand times?" Jinyoung's aunt had called from the kitchen. 

"Yes," Jinyoung had mumbled, blowing his nose on a piece of tissue paper Jaebeom had handed to him, "but it's so bittersweet."

Or -- and it was really probably this -- it might have been the time Jaebeom had stopped by to return Jinyoung's aunt some kimchi containers and had been suddenly tasked with the job of changing all the curtains in the house. 

"You can start with Jinyoung's room," she had told him, together with strict instructions on how to move aside the desk under the window such that he could place the stepladder by the wall. 

So Jaebeom had gone in with his armful of new curtains and shifted the desk at the angle Jinyoung's aunt had specified. He hadn't failed to take another look at the triptych of photographs Jinyoung had put up on the wall above his desk -- the one Jaebeom had discovered the night he'd brought a drunk Jinyoung home. He'd laughed a bit to see kid Jinyoung again, caught in his sister's headlock in the family photo, and had felt a peculiar sense of pride looking at young Sales Team 3 Jinyoung with his briefcase of documents in the next photo. And finally -- the one of Jaebeom and Jinyoung with the other trainees. Jaebeom had since experienced, in person, the full and honest force of the look Jinyoung had been giving him in the photo, and it always made something in his chest do very funny things. 

Then Jaebeom had glanced down the space between the desk and the wall, and spotted a fourth photo on the floor. It must have fallen off and into the gap at some point, Jaebeom had thought, picking it up.

The photo had been of a teenage Jinyoung: older than in the family photo, possibly in middle school, and still wearing a Baduk Association jacket. He had been grinning so hard that his eyes had vanished and Jaebeom could feel his own cheeks start to ache just from looking at young Jinyoung. And leaning across the table, with his arm around Jinyoung's shoulders, had been Lee Seung-gi.

"Ah," Jinyoung's aunt had said, when she'd come back in to inspect Jaebeom's handiwork. "He thought he'd lost that photo. Grumbled for days."

"Imo," Jaebeom had said, "where's this photo from?"

"A fan sign event he won a ticket to," Jinyoung's aunt had replied, with the same bemused head-shake she always gave whenever Jinyoung was being particularly petulant. "He stayed up all night to be the first caller in to that radio show."

"A fan… sign…" Jaebeom had repeated, examining the photograph again -- Jinyoung clutching an album and magazine in one hand; the soft toys on the table in front of Lee Seung-gi. 

"When he came back from the event it was like he was floating on air for weeks," Jinyoung's aunt had continued, shaking her head. "Smiling like an idiot. Even his _baduk_ master scolding him every day didn't make the slightest difference."

"Oh," Jaebeom had said, looking down at deliriously grinning Jinyoung. "He's never mentioned this."

"If you ask me, though," Jinyoung's aunt had added, with a comforting but painful nudge. "You're a lot more handsome."

\---

"I mean, of course I'm happy," says Jinyoung now, tapping away on his laptop at the kitchen table, legs drawn up to his chest and bare feet resting on the edge of the chair. "It's going to be a real boost for the campaign."

Jaebeom narrows his eyes. Or rather he tries to, through burning tears from the onion he's currently dicing.

"Look," says Jinyoung, "just because I said I used to lie on my bedroom floor with my Discman listening to _The Dream of a Moth_ on repeat doesn't mean I'm going to run off with him the first chance I get."

"You call him 'Seung-gi hyung' and celebrate his birthday with a cake that you eat while watching _The King 2 Hearts_," says Jaebeom through onion tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My note say that this is supposed to be a story about getting used to each other and intimacy, but also I really wanted to continue making jokes about Jinyoung's fictional crush on Lee Seung-gi, culminating on a Gamja Caffe guest appearance filled with TENSION (of the following varieties: sexual, residual crush, ornery boyfriend, bewildered Lee Dong Wook, the list continues). Also you know LSG only agreed to come on board so he could promote MILLET; he'd never get behind the humble potato.


	2. Time Slip Drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the story that got drop-kicked into oblivion by Real Wild Road Variety! It features In Feast, In Famine Crown Prince Jinyoung time travelling to our present day Got7, as well as as many time slip jokes I could make. 
> 
> This owes a huge debt to dramas such as Splish Splash Love, Queen In-hyun's Man, and the amazing Chonmage Purin (a film which I wholeheartedly recommend).

Jaebeom wakes up at a quarter to seven in the morning with a crick in his neck from sleeping on Jinyoung's too-short couch. 

The apartment is silent but Jinyoung's bedroom door is shut, which means Jinyoung's in, and fast asleep. As for Jinyoung's other house-guest --

There is a note on the coffee table, on one of the many sheets of hotel paper Jinyoung collects whenever they're on tour. Jaebeom sits up and examines it, rubbing his neck as he does so.

As expected, it is written in hanja, each Chinese character perfectly calligraphed in ball point pen. 

It is too early for this, Jaebeom thinks. 

Still, he reaches for his phone and opens up the dictionary app. It takes him ten minutes of squinting and retracing the strokes on his touchscreen, but eventually he deciphers the message.

_Worry not, for I journey to the shop_.  
_Park Jin Young  
_  
All his effort in reading the note is rendered futile by the sound of the flat's passcode being keyed in. 

The front door swings open. In comes Jinyoung -- the other Park Jinyoung -- with a convenience store plastic bag in one hand. Slung over his shoulder is the backpack they'd given him -- for all his valuables, including the emergency money and the phone he's still not willing to operate. He's wearing a pair of baggy traditional _baji_ trousers with an old Fly tour t-shirt, and lime green sneakers that look like they once belonged to Mark. 

The moment he gets in, he pulls off the bucket hat -- Jaebeom's -- that is jammed onto his head, revealing his topknot.

"I have purchased the items you call '_ppang_'," Jinyoung says, when he sees Jaebeom. Then frowns. "But you may need to eat them in the carriage, for the hour grows late and we cannot tarry."

Jaebeom buries his face in one hand, and wonders how his life has come to this.

1.

The coffee cart is Mark's idea, because they've all seen how hard Jinyoung has been working during pre-production; the countless hours he's spent with the dialect coach, practising the specific cadences of his lines every spare moment he gets.

"It's _fusion_ sageuk, though," Youngjae had said, "I'm sure people will be more forgiving."

"I'm not concerned about people being forgiving," Jinyoung had gritted out. "I'm concerned about being _good_."

The surprise visit to the set, on the other hand, is entirely Yugyeom's suggestion. 

And this is how everything changes:

By the road beside Gyeongbokgung Palace, there is a loud screech of tires as a passing car swerves. Jaebeom turns, and sees that the car has narrowly avoided a person, who is standing stock still in the middle of the road, arms raised to their head as if to shield against the oncoming vehicle.

“Watch out!” Jaebeom shouts, stepping out onto the street to pull the person back towards the pavement, out of the path of a delivery bike. 

Its rider honks and swears.

The man -- who must be some kind of extra because he's also in period costume -- stumbles against Jaebeom. 

“Are you hurt?” Jaebeom asks. 

The man turns. There's a jolt of recognition between them.

"Jinyoung--"

Jinyoung's eyes grow impossibly wide. 

"But what have you done to your _hair_?" he says.

Yugyeom comes running just then. "We've got to cancel the surprise," he calls. "Jinyoung-hyung's collapsed on set--"

He stops, shocked when he sees Jaebeom and Jinyoung, Jaebeom still holding on to Jinyoung's arm. 

"But he's right here," Jaebeom says, confused.

2.

"_Time slip_," Yugyeom breathes. "That's the only explanation."

Jaebeom is more concerned about how Jinyoung -- their Jinyoung, who had in fact collapsed on set -- is still not awake, and also the fact that this Jinyoung may not be entirely of sound mind. 

"You are not him," Jinyoung -- other Jinyoung -- had said, after several beats. "You look like he does and your voice is his, but your speech betrays you."

He had looked down, then, at Jaebeom's hand still gripping his arm, and his expression had grown terrifyingly cold. 

"Unhand me," he had said. 

Now this other Jinyoung paces the break room at the JYP building, because it's not as if they could take him to the police or the hospital. Jaebeom can already imagine the headlines: '_GOT7's Jinyoung suffers psychotic break, thinks he is Crown Prince of Joseon_'.

He's wearing imperial robes, finer than anything a television production budget could afford, and when Jaebeom had let go of him his hands had automatically gone to his left hip as if to reach for a sword. 

It had been Yugyeom who had persuaded this Jinyoung to come with them; who had said, "I'm not this Magistrate Kim that you know, but I guess I must look like him," in a surprisingly calm and reasonable tone. 

And then he'd called Jinyoung "Your Royal Highness".

"How on earth," says Youngjae now, peering through the glass of the break room door together with Jaebeom, "did Yugyeom know that."

"He said it was obvious?" Jaebeom replies, watching as Yugyeom, seated cross-legged on one of the JYP bean bags, patiently answers this Jinyoung's questions. "Apparently blue robes and the imperial dragon are worn only by the Crown Prince."

"Yes," says Youngjae, still puffy under his dust mask from lack of sleep. As the only other member with an off-day, they'd summoned him after an all-nighter playing the latest _Witcher_. "But how did he _know_."

"He said," Jaebeom replies, watching as other Jinyoung comes to a stop and seats himself down in the centre of the room, adjusting himself so that his robes fall immaculately, “that it was common knowledge. From watching _sageuk_.”

"It's too early for this," Youngjae groans.

"It's past noon," Jaebeom replies.

"Precisely," says Youngjae.

Yugyeom comes to the door. "Jaebeom-hyung," he says, "he wants to speak with you."

It is eminently clear, from the moment Jaebeom enters the room, how much this Jinyoung is _not_ their Jinyoung. Jinyoung on stage has presence, but not like _this_, not this quiet but imposing authority that has Jaebeom unsure if he should sit or kneel. This Jinyoung cannot be older than their Jinyoung, but there is something about his eyes, a harder, wearier look, that makes Jaebeom wonder what he's seen. 

As Jaebeom approaches and awkwardly kneels-then-sits, something crosses this Jinyoung's face; soft, then pained, then quickly hidden away. 

"Kim Yugyeom tells me you are called Jaebeom," this Jinyoung says. 

Jaebeom nods. 

"And that you -- and others -- you… dance? Sing?" Jinyoung continues. 

"I produce music, as well."

"Your ways of speech confound me," Jinyoung says, with a frown.

"I'm sorry?" says Jaebeom.

"No matter," Jinyoung tells him. "I simply wished to thank you." He pauses, and there it is -- that look, again, vanishing as quickly as it appears. "You saved my life."

3.

In the evening, just past six, one of the managers texts the group from the hospital to say that Jinyoung has come round. 

Moments before, the other Jinyoung had, in the middle of examining the intricacies of the triangle kimbap, slumped suddenly sideways onto an unsuspecting Youngjae.

Because some things have to be seen to be believed, Jinyoung comes over to the JYP building. He's pale but insists he's otherwise fine; when he takes off his jacket Jaebeom sees the adhesive bandage on his arm from where they must have put him on a drip.

"_Daebak_," he breathes, as they open the door to show him his sleeping twin, whom Jaebeom, Yugyeom and Youngjae had had to half-drag and half-carry to one of the beds in the building's medical room. 

"He seemed to recognise us," says Youngjae. "He knew our names but remembered us as different people."

"He told Jaebeom-hyung off for slouching,” Yugyeom adds, sounding a little too delighted. 

"And he said he's the Crown Prince?" Jinyoung says, glancing at the two-tiered hat on the bedside table that Yugyeom had earlier gingerly removed. 

"Yes, and Jaebeom-hyung was a royal guard," Youngjae adds. "Yugyeom was a magistrate from the countryside, apparently. I was someone he knew from some… war?"

_You saved my life_, other Jinyoung had said to Jaebeom, almost hesitant; after the slightest of pauses. Like he'd remembered a time from before when he had said the same words to someone else.

"Daebak," Jinyoung says again, except this time it is not shock in his voice, but a creeping note of smugness.

"Oh fuck," says Youngjae, with dawning realisation. "You're never going to let us forget this, are you?"

"That's 'Your Royal Highness' to you," says Jinyoung imperiously.

4.

Later, in the corridor, as Jinyoung's preparing to head home (it having been decided, by several rounds of rock-paper-scissors, that Jaebeom is to stick around for when the other Jinyoung awakens), Jaebeom snakes an arm across Jinyoung's back and squeezes Jinyoung's shoulder. 

Jinyoung sags into it a little, tired but affectionate. (_Unhand me_, Jaebeom remembers; that gaze like ice.)

It has been a long time since Jaebeom has needed to do this; to take anyone to one side and deliberately check in. _Leadering_, is what Mark had called it once. Now they all surge along together as a group, checking in as they go, in varying degrees transparent to each other.

"How are you feeling?" Jaebeom asks. 

"Terrified," replies Jinyoung, honestly. "I'm scared that I'll drop off and not…" he pauses. "I'm scared I'll lose more than a day."

"Do you remember what happened?" Jaebeom asks. 

Jinyoung shakes his head. "I just remember something about the water clock replica on the set, and they were fixing it, and suddenly I was falling," he says. "Then I woke up in hospital."

"Well," says Jaebeom, "if Yugyeom's theory is right--"

"Yugyeom's theory," says Jinyoung, "is based on two and a half timeslip dramas and pure, fervent speculation."

"It's going to be okay," Jaebeom says, feeling hopelessly untethered. He grips Jinyoung's shoulder again, touches the side of his neck in that familiar, anchoring gesture. "I'll -- we'll figure it out."

"Yeah," says Jinyoung, bringing his arm up around Jaebeom's waist in a quick squeeze of thanks. His manager has already brought the car round to the entrance.

Before Jinyoung steps through the doors, he pauses. 

"I'm not sharing my clothes with him, by the way," he says.

5.

Yugyeom's theory proves correct. Their Jinyoung awakens at six each evening, when the other Jinyoung falls to sleep. At six the next morning, their positions reverse.

They don't think they would get used to it, but slowly they do. One Jinyoung by day and another by night; a cautious orbit.

6.

The other Jinyoung cannot read hangul. 

They find this out in the worst way possible, after Jaebeom leaves him a note that first morning to say that he will be right back and not to worry.

Jaebeom returns to find the medical room empty and spends the next half hour frantically searching the building, until he finds the other Jinyoung in a practice room with a group of terrified and overawed middle school trainees, one of which is dutifully reading Jaebeom's note to him.

"You have my sincere thanks," other Jinyoung tells the trainee, who looks so starstruck he's practically vibrating.

"Sunbaenim," asks one of the more daring trainees, "are you method acting?"

"_Me-tho-d_?" other Jinyoung says, repeating the syllables.

"Yes," says Jaebeom, slipping into the room. "He is. Uh, dramas are tough. Work hard, everyone," he adds, and pulls other Jinyoung from the room.

Once outside, other Jinyoung looks down at Jaebeom's hand on his sleeve. "I would thank you not to touch me so freely," he says.

Jaebeom drops his hand abruptly. "Well, I would, uh, thank you not to wander around," he replies. 

“How was I to know if you would return?” other Jinyoung asks.

"That's why I left you a _note_," Jaebeom counters.

"You expected me to be able to read these scratchings?" cries other Jinyoung, brandishing the paper at Jaebeom.

"Those _scratchings_,” says Jaebeom, feeling both the slight to his handwriting and to the face of the 10,000 won note, “were invented by King Sejong the Great!" 

Because he may have dozed through much of history class, but he had at least picked _this_ up. 

Other Jinyoung pauses. "I know him not," he says, then looks again at the letters. "He invented this script, you say?"

"Yes, to enable the common man to read," Jaebeom replies, a fact which he’s definitely also gleaned from that one variety show episode he was in with the costumes and also the foot-race. 

“Fascinating,” other Jinyoung murmurs, his earlier outrage forgotten. “I shall investigate this.” 

“Well,” says Jaebeom, continuing to amaze himself by how much he’s retained from that ridiculous show, “It is said that a wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over and a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days.” 

Other Jinyoung looks up at Jaebeom, his eyes flashing the same way Jinyoung’s might at the suggestion that some section of choreography was a _little_ complicated, or that a particular melody line might be _somewhat_ tricky. 

“I shall master this _now_,” he says. 

Yugyeom’s developing theory is that this Jinyoung comes from an alternate timeline. 

“The Parks were not kings in the Joseon era,” he says, while Bambam unpacks the suitcase of old clothes he has brought over to Jaebeom’s apartment. 

“I’m still amazed that you know this,” says Youngjae, who has had to put on two masks just to enter the living room. All the cats are currently shut in Jaebeom’s bedroom, and are making their displeasure known from behind the door. 

“Who, then, are the kings of Joseon?” other Jinyoung asks, from where he is seated cross-legged on Jaebeom’s couch.

(Jaebeom, in the meantime, is sitting on the floor, squashed between the couch and the coffee table as he marks the fifth spelling test he’s had to administer that day.)

“Ah,” says Yugyeom, oblivious to how Bambam drapes a silk shirt exploding with birds of paradise along his back in order to look, critically, between the shirt and other Jinyoung. "Let me show you Wikipedia."

7.

Their Jinyoung -- the Jinyoung by night -- grows paler and more worried each day. They've reshuffled the filming schedule for his drama such that all his night shoots are being done first, but there's only so long this can go on for. Soon there will be questions, and then, perhaps, talk of breach of contract. 

Jaebeom video calls him in the evenings when he's on his way to filming -- often after he's just jerked back into consciousness in the van -- and in the early hours of the morning when he's headed back home. 

"What did you do today?" Jinyoung will sometimes ask.

At first, Jaebeom would tell Jinyoung funny anecdotes about what had happened in the day; how they'd shown other Jinyoung a claw machine ("What futility," other Jinyoung had remarked, after Jaebeom had spent a small fortune to prove that it was possible to obtain one of the tiny tiger plushies within. He had still kept the tiger), or introduced him, at Mark’s suggestion, to the spicy joys of microwaved convenience store tteokbokki. Or about Jaebeom’s neck-cramping afternoon of trying to teach him to use a phone. But after the first few times, Jaebeom starts to catch the way Jinyoung's face will shutter at these stories, how he will smile and laugh but it will not quite reach his eyes.

Now, Jaebeom will say, "Oh, the usual," and give Jinyoung an update on what the other members are doing. And, if there's time -- usually at the end of Jinyoung's day, in those wee hours just before sunrise, Jaebeom might say, "I worked on some music."

"Go on," Jinyoung will reply, and Jaebeom will play it for him; hold the phone closer to the speakers as the beats fill the room. Watch as Jinyoung blinks slower, then yawns, then falls gently to sleep.

8.

“You are troubled,” says the other Jinyoung. 

Of course Jaebeom is troubled. They’ve got a host of television appearance to film in two days that can’t be shifted to after six in the evening, and the only Jinyoung they have is the one currently seated cross-legged on Jaebeom’s couch, still in his topknot, wearing one of the _baji_ trousers Jackson purchased from “an old dude at a market” and a fair isle jumper with dinosaurs on it that Bambam definitely wore to the airport one time. He’s also covered with every single one of Jaebeom’s cats. 

It makes no sense. He doesn’t even play with them beyond the most cursory petting. 

“I’m not troubled,” says Jaebeom, going back to looking for his other sock. 

“Do not lie,” the other Jinyoung says, with the same intensity he probably uses when ordering that someone be beheaded. 

But what sets Jaebeom off is not this Jinyoung's tone, or Jaebeom's lack of sleep, or the stupidly long strands of hair that now regularly clog his shower drain. It’s not even the constant background worry over a situation none of them are able to control. What sets Jaebeom off is how calm this Jinyoung is in the face of … everything, really, and the uncanny way he has of looking at Jaebeom and knowing exactly how he's feeling.

"Seriously?" Jaebeom snaps. "You want to know?"

Even in the face of Jaebeom's anger, this Jinyoung seems unfazed. 

So Jaebeom tells him, starting with the fact that they'll have to explain away at least four six-member appearances in the coming week; the fact that Jinyoung's drama will soon shift back to daytime shoots; the comeback that may need to be delayed because they can't fit everything into their Jinyoung's scant twelve hours. He doesn't bother explaining loan words or checking to see if this Jinyoung _understands_. He just says it, spills all his frustrations in a jumbled-up torrent. 

He's exhausted by the end of it, and embarrassed, because he hasn't gone off on someone like this since -- since a long time ago. 

"Fuck," he says, instead of the apology he immediately wants to make. 

This other Jinyoung carefully untangles Odd's claws from his sweater. 

"It is settled, then," he says, with the authority of someone issuing an imperial edict. 

"Um, what?" says Jaebeom.

"I shall go in his stead."

9.

"That," says Mark, "is a very, very, _very_ bad idea."

"If he stands at the back and doesn't say anything, maybe no one will be able to tell the difference," Bambam says, but the end of his sentence trails off like a question. 

"Maybe we can say he's saving his voice," suggests Jackson. "For his drama."

"_Maybe_ we can say he's not feeling well and _not_ have any disasters on the show," Mark countersuggests.

"I agree with Bambam," says Yugyeom, "he could just stand at the back."

"And not say anything?" Youngjae asks.

"If you burst into song every time he tries, we should be good," says Jackson. 

"This is _not_ the time to be joking around--" Mark begins.

"Well," says Jinyoung, who has thus far been huddled beside Jaebeom, thumbs moving rapidly over his phone as he replies to a day's worth of messages and emails. 

Everyone pauses to look over at him. 

Jinyoung glances up from his phone. He looks tired, and not from lack of sleep. "It's worth a shot, I guess."

And that is how Jinyoung -- Crown Prince Park Jinyoung -- ends up appearing on _Weekly Idol_.

Their managers have assured them that they have informed the production staff and the hosts that Jinyoung has the flu and shouldn’t be called on, and also that he's injured his hamstring while filming and cannot participate in any of the dance segments.

But this doesn't stop Jo Se-ho from launching the first salvo, two minutes into the introduction.

"Jinyoung-sshi, why are you wearing a hat today?" he asks laughingly.

Everyone around Jinyoung freezes.

Jackson sits up, ready to intervene with a random quip, when Jinyoung opens his mouth to speak.

"A man must always dress with propriety and decency," he says. 

There is a stunned silence for a moment, as Jo Se-ho exchanges a confused look with Hwang Kwang-hee. 

Then Jinyoung smiles, and adds, "And my head is cold."

As the hosts explode with bewildered laughter, Mark leans over to Jaebeom and whispers, through a fixed grin, "What. The. Hell."

10.

"It's actually... not a disaster," says Jinyoung, eyes fixed on the screen as he lifts a spoonful of potato salad to his mouth. 

For the Random Play Dance, the hosts have elected other Jinyoung to spot the other members' mistakes, since he's not able to join them. Jaebeom watches himself squirming in panic onscreen, while Jinyoung nods and intones that it is "a worthy challenge". The words 'Park Jinyoung In Full Sageuk Mode' flash across the screen for the fifth time that episode, together with klaxon sound effects. 

Then they actually do the dance challenge, at the end of which Jinyoung simply declares that they all "danced handsomely". 

"Jinyoung-ah," Kwang-hee says, "are you sure you've understood the point of the game?"

"They have excellent coordination, despite the challenges they faced and the awfulness of the music," Jinyoung replies. "I am most satisfied."

The third host, Nam Chang-hee, has wept actual tears by this point, while the Jaebeom onscreen is lying on the floor, ostensibly from exhaustion and laughter but in actual fact from the sheer terror of the moment. Mark is sitting by a chair, no longer caring that his back is to the camera. Beside him, Yugyeom is just straight up screaming into his hands. The caption on the screen now is ‘Park Jinyoung Has Transcended The Game’.

"Pull yourselves together," the Jinyoung onscreen tells them, to further hysterics.

"_Pull yourselves together_," Jinyoung repeats softly, perfectly mimicking the cadence of other Jinyoung's words. It comes out better and far more natural than Jinyoung's previous, already impressive efforts with the dialect coach. 

11.

After that first, fateful _Weekly Idol_ shoot, other Jinyoung retreats to the room that had formerly been Jaebeom's bedroom (Jaebeom having yielded it to him in favour of camping in the smaller room he also uses as his studio), and remains there for close to half an hour. 

"Answer me this," he says, when Jaebeom gently knocks and comes in to check on him, a packet of makeup remover wipes in one hand. "Why must you subject yourselves to such indignity?"

Jaebeom thinks about this for a moment. "I guess," he says, finally, "because it makes people happy."

Other Jinyoung says nothing, only curls his fingers against the lavender corduroy trousers that their stylist has been trying to get their Jinyoung to put on for four entire months. 

"Thank you," Jaebeom tells him, after a pause. "Jinyoung -- I mean, our Jinyoung -- is grateful too."

"It is a small matter," other Jinyoung replies. Then he turns to look at Jaebeom. 

"But answer me one more thing," he says, studying Jaebeom's face with an intensity that makes Jaebeom want to look away. 

“Have you offended one of the artists at the salon?” he asks, pronouncing the loan words carefully.

“I’m sorry?” Jaebeom says.

"I have studied the fashions of the men of this era through the search of Naver that you showed to me,” other Jinyoung explains. “But what they have done to your hair is beyond the pale."

Jaebeom touches the back of his neck, startled. "You don't like the mullet?" 

"I understand now," other Jinyoung replies, with great and sincere sympathy, "why it is that you own so many hats."

With aim so perfect he shocks even himself, Jaebeom chucks the makeup wipes directly at other Jinyoung’s chest. 

“Why did you--” other Jinyoung begins, confused. He looks at the packet. “What is this?” 

“‘_Search of Naver_’ it,” Jaebeom says, before storming off to go look at himself in the mirror. 

12.

It escalates from there. Now, Jinyoung wins a quiz segment of 'Crazily Obscure Questions Nobody Should Have The Answers To' by knowing how long a horse would take to travel ten _ri_. Now, he loses a game of charades because he is unable to interpret Mark’s drawing of a slice of pizza. Now, there is a clip of him on another show eating _gyeran-ppang_ as if it's the first time he's ever tasted it, eyes wide and demanding to know how they have made it have the texture of a cloud. 

This wildly popular video is eclipsed only by an even more viral one of Jinyoung telling Youngjae, "How dare you touch my royal body?" during a balloon popping game on Sukira. 

#PrinceJinyoung trends for days. 

Jaebeom sees how other Jinyoung not so much relaxes into the format as understands it now; that he’s studied it with the same logical intensity he had turned towards learning hangul. How he maintains his stony close-up for maximum effect when he needs to and crinkles into a smile as soft as their Jinyoung’s at other times. And whenever there’s something he doesn’t understand, some question that sails entirely past him, he looks to Jaebeom; always to Jaebeom, with an unthinking trust that Jaebeom knows must have been earned by someone else. 

Jinyoung -- their Jinyoung -- checks every minute of every appearance, sometimes with his fingers over his eyes. 

“Does it feel a bit like you’ve been possessed?” Bambam asks, one evening in the van, while Jinyoung is watching a video of other Jinyoung composing a poem on the spot using the syllables of their new single title. 

It is a beautiful poem. There are mulberry leaves in it and a counter-theme about the passage of time in the penultimate line. 

(Jinyoung's reward for winning that round is that he gets to flick someone in the forehead, a task which he delegates to Yugyeom.)

“No, but it’s… strange,” Jinyoung murmurs, over the tinny sound of studio applause ringing from his phone speakers. From the corner of his eye Jaebeom sees how Jinyoung’s brow furrows a bit as he watches other Jinyoung wave away the praise with a particularly regal humility; sees how Jinyoung’s hand twitches like he’s filing away that movement for himself.

“Will you ask him for me?” Jinyoung says later, when it’s just them in the van on its final two stops to their respective apartments. He snakes a foot out and bumps the side of it against Jaebeom’s shin. 

“Ask him?” Jaebeom repeats. 

Jinyoung ducks his head, and Jaebeom stops himself from reaching for him before remembering that he _can_. So he does, touching Jinyoung's shoulder, the side of his neck, quick and steadying.

"If he can be there for the day shoots," says Jinyoung, too-fast, like he's been thinking about saying these words for some time. "For my -- for the drama."

13.

“Time... slip... fusion... _sageuk_,” other Jinyoung reads, peering closely at the cover of their Jinyoung’s script. “These words mean nothing to me.” 

“It’s a popular subgenre,” Yugyeom explains. “Apart from the natural humour arising from a fish-out-of-water situation--”

Other Jinyoung gives Yugyeom a look that suggests he does not find his situation at all humorous. 

“...there is thematic convergence in the character arcs of both the time traveller and the people they visit,” Yugyeom continues, with a fervour and eloquence heretofore unseen. “_What_ will be the impact of knowledge of the future on those from the past? How will the wisdom of another, _past_, generation still be relevant to the people of today?” 

Other Jinyoung frowns. “Surely the Analects are always relevant,” he says. “And am I to understand that this modern day ‘_base-ball_’--”

“Baseball coach,” Yugyeom supplies. “Played by Lee Dong Wook!” he adds, with a little fist pump.

“The knowledge of the future that he brings to Joseon is knowledge of this… sport?” other Jinyoung finishes. 

“And of friendship and brotherhood,” says Yugyeom. “And I’m pretty sure Jinyoung-hyung said something about solving Pythagoras’ Theorem as well.”

“Excuse me?” other Jinyoung says. 

“You’re on your own,” says Jaebeom to Yugyeom, making a hasty exit from the room, “I’m not teaching His Royal Highness _math_.”

14.

“I’m not sure if he’s actually… acting,” says Jaebeom, as Jinyoung watches the rushes for the day’s filming in the living room of his own apartment. On his tablet screen, there is genuine irritation on other Jinyoung’s face as he tells Lee Dong Wook that his “speech is confounding and his manner undignified”. 

“Those aren’t even the lines,” Jinyoung murmurs through his fingers, leaning forward intently. 

But it works -- it really works; they get in one take the scene where Jinyoung’s Crown Prince character looks at the object Lee Dong Wook’s time-travelling high school baseball coach gives him and says, “So this is the … base … ball?”, his expression both curious and haughty at the same time. The scene where Lee Dong Wook saves the Crown Prince from assassination by pitching a persimmon at the assassin is a little tricker, on account of other Jinyoung’s inexperience with falling on a crash mat, but that is made up for by the truly regal way in which he thanks Lee Dong Wook for saving his life. 

"Also I told him the production crew might not take kindly to being critiqued on the historical accuracy of a Joseon baseball drama," says Jaebeom, "so he decided to write them down in a memo pad instead." He hands Jinyoung the notebook, the first five pages of which is filled with increasingly outraged lines of hanja that Jaebeom has not attempted to decipher.

"Could I… write him a note in this?" Jinyoung says, as he flips over to the next blank page. 

Jaebeom shrugs. "Why not?" he says. "You can leave it for him when he wakes up."

It had been decided, earlier, that it would make more sense for other Jinyoung to stay in Jinyoung's apartment now that they are sharing the same schedule. So other Jinyoung has now taken all his belongings and permanently moved into the spare room Jinyoung's sisters usually use when they stay over. He may also have taken a few of Jaebeom's shirts with him in the process.

Jinyoung is now writing in the notebook with a serious expression on his face. "I'm telling him thanks," he says, when he notices Jaebeom looking over. “And also that I’m sorry.”

“None of this is your fault,” says Jaebeom. 

“Yes, but,” Jinyoung says. “He’s trying really hard.” 

The next morning, after Jaebeom wakes up with the crick in his neck and other Jinyoung returns to the apartment with his plastic bag of bread, Jaebeom notices other Jinyoung slipping briefly into Jinyoung’s room, notebook in hand.

15.

“He must learn the sword,” says other Jinyoung, when they’re on their way to their comeback photoshoot.

“Sorry?” says Jaebeom, through a mouthful of walnut red bean bread. 

“There will be a fight,” says other Jinyoung, “they will record at dusk and I shall not be able to help him with it.” 

Jaebeom chews, and swallows noisily. “Hasn’t Jinyoung had stunt training? Won’t he have stunt doubles?”

As Jaebeom takes another massive bite of bread, Jinyoung frowns. “We have discussed this,” he says.

“When?” says Jaebeom, still chewing. “How?” 

“We exchange missives on this mirrored tile Mark gave me,” other Jinyoung replies, pulling out the phone he has steadfastly refused to use despite their best attempts at persuasion. On the message previews flashing up on the screen, Jinyoung has sent other Jinyoung a cute ‘_hwaiting!_’ sticker for the coming shoot. The other message is a spam one about football betting. 

“Even if he shall have a double, he should still look the part,” other Jinyoung continues.

“It’s… a baseball drama,” Jaebeom mutters under his breath. 

“I shall teach him what I can,” declares other Jinyoung, “in this limited time.” 

Jaebeom swallows again. “I can’t believe--” he begins, then sighs. “I meant, when would that even be possible? Neither of you are awake at the same time.” 

“We decided,” says other Jinyoung, “that I shall teach you, and you shall teach him.” 

And before Jaebeom can stuff the last third of the bread into his mouth, other Jinyoung reaches over, lightning-quick, and swipes the bun from his hand. 

“Take… smaller… bites…” he grits out, tearing the remainder into two before shoving it back at Jaebeom. 

At the back of the van, Yugyeom snorts in his sleep. 

16.

"I can't believe," says Jaebeom to Jinyoung, "that you got him to use KakaoTalk."

“Shut up and show me Sword Method 5 again,” says Jinyoung. 

17.

It’s there, always, hanging between them. Another Jaebeom -- one that this Jinyoung searches for in Jaebeom’s face. 

On the morning of their comeback photoshoot -- now reconceptualised into some Joseon-fusion type aesthetic so that Jinyoung won’t have to wear a hat in every shot -- there had been a moment when Jaebeom had walked onto the set in costume and other Jinyoung had stopped in the middle of the word game he’d been teaching Youngjae and just _stared_. 

“Is there something wrong?” Jaebeom had asked, looking down at his dark blue and very sparkly _jeogori_ and overcoat. Through some judicious styling, the makeup artist had actually managed to corral his mullet into something more in keeping with the time period. 

Other Jinyoung had said nothing; just glanced away very quickly. 

“O, _nauri_,” Jackson had interjected, cutting through the weird silence by swooning aggressively at Jaebeom. “Sweep me off my feet. Teach me baseball and acupuncture.”

In the ensuing chaos (Youngjae bellowing something with great excitement and slapping Jackson in the chest; Bambam persuading Yugyeom to take a dabbing Joseon Boomerang for Instagram; Mark occupying himself with repeatedly swishing the fabric of his sleeves for no particular reason), it had been easy not to think about that look, or about how it had been several minutes before other Jinyoung had ventured to speak again.

And in the afternoon, when other Jinyoung had produced two prop swords in one of the JYP practice rooms, he had studiously avoided looking at Jaebeom in the mirror while teaching him Sword Methods 1 through 5, running through the movements slow then fast, expecting Jaebeom to follow him. 

It had been like learning a new and different choreography, except instead of counting there was Jinyoung calling the names of each method; Jinyoung explaining the link between energy, body, and sword. Except Jinyoung hadn’t been correcting him -- Jinyoung hadn’t even been _looking_. 

“Am I doing this right?” Jaebeom had asked, his arms aching, sweat soaking the towel he’d been using as a bandana. He’d long pulled off the hoodie he had been wearing at first.

When he’d looked over at Jinyoung it had been clear that he had been miles away, gazing blankly at his hands on the hilt of his sword as if lost in some other memory. 

18.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think my main reason for writing this was to make jokes about old timey jinyoung's clothes and... write about variety shows, which I did plenty of in Real Wild Road Variety. But rest assured that Crown Prince Jinyoung does in fact make his way back to his own time to a very worried Royal Guard Jaebeom, and current!Got7 JY forges a pretty decent reputation as a sageuk actor.


	3. Geuk7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we enter the not!fic territory, in which I said to forochel: "Also I would be 100% into an idol group whose concept was "we are from the joseon period and time travelled to current times" and we yelled about this concept on telegram, forochel shouted GEUK7 and then I wrote a bunch of headlines.

**au in which got7 debuts as geuk7**

Scenes from another life

** _allkpop: [HOT DEBUT] Geuk7_ **

The highly anticipated official music video for **Geuk7**’s debut track, “Yeoja Yeoja Yeoja”, was finally released yesterday. Geuk7, the new 7-member boy-group out of **JYP Entertainment**, has baffled k-pop fans with a series of ‘timeslip’ teasers in the weeks leading up to the release of the video, showing each member -- which includes JJ Project’s Jaebeom and Jinyoung -- standing confused and disoriented at busy landmarks in Seoul. 

I’ve personally been curious about this new group ever since we got a sneak peek of them on **WIN: Who Is Next**, when Mark, Yugyeom, Bambam and Jackson showed off amazing coordination and martial arts tricking moves in a mind-blowing dance performance, all while decked out in Joseon-era robes fit for a historical drama, or _sageuk_. Now we’ve been treated to more of that in their new music video:

[MUSIC VIDEO]

Featuring a _pansori_ opening, the video intersperses shots of the members dancing impressively between clips of them grappling with the modern world. While Bambam and Yugyeom figure out the train system, Jackson, Youngjae and Mark interrupt a history lecture at a university to dance aggressively with the professor. Finally, Jinyoung and Jaebeom go to Gyeongbokgung Palace and are mobbed by fans who recognise them as JJ Project… even though they aren’t?

It’s all rather confusing, but the song is definitely a bop. I am wondering how far JYP Entertainment will take this timeslip concept moving forward, but colour me impressed in any case. 

**omonatheydidnt: Geuk7 stun and confuse at Music Bank**

In case you were wondering how committed JYP Entertainment is to the conceit that their newest boy group are time travellers from the Joseon era, the answer is Very. 7-member group Geuk7 made their _Music Bank_ debut this Friday with a perfectly-executed performance of their single _Yeoja Yeoja Yeoja_, decked out in shiny dance-friendly robes. 

But what got knetz abuzz was the accompanying interview Geuk7 gave, in which all the members spoke using the antiquated speech patterns and vocabulary more commonly heard in historical dramas. (For English language readers, think of it perhaps as if One Direction all spoke like they had stepped out of a Shakespeare play.)

‘_How much did they spend on dialect coaches_???’ one user commented, while others were impressed that even non-native Korean speaking members had managed credible accents. ‘_It’s amazing that they can all dance, sing, and act_.’

Other users were less impressed, saying that, ‘_JYP has lost it… he didn’t need to go this far. They could just have debuted as a normal group_’. Another user stated, ‘_this is so weird_’. 

**allkpop: fansign attendees shocked by Geuk7’s personal messages written in _hanja_**

**omonatheydidnt: Geuk7 promote Kyochon chicken with viral videos of them discovering modern fried chicken for the first time**

**Soompi: Geuk7 comeback with single ‘ㅏ’, lyrics about the invention of _hangul_**

**koreaboo.com: 2 years on, Geuk7 still maintaining time travel concept**

**The Korea Times: Rise in popularity of history courses at universities, traditional music, attributed to 'Geuk7 effect'**

**soompi: JJ Project make comeback, say they are 'different entity' from Geuk7's Jinyoung and Jaebeom**

It is still unclear if JJ Project are meant to be alternate timeline personas of Geuk7’s Jinyoung and Jaebeom. That certainly appeared to be the case, with its two members appearing relaxed and comfortable in present-day clothes that have for once not been intentionally styled to look like they were picked by people with old-timey sensibilities.

**dramabeans: Geuk7’s Jinyoung cast in new sageuk by the directors, writers of _Tree With Deep Roots_; nobody is surprised**

**SBS Australia: The Wonderful, Old-Timey Weirdness of Geuk7**

When Exo debuted with the single _Mama_, the accompanying video concept was a somewhat incoherent backstory about the tree of life and twelve legendary powers. This was, thankfully, swiftly discarded as Exo plunged into their subsequent singles. (In any case, it's hard to imagine how they could have sustained the 'legendary powers' storyline after some of the said legendary powers subsequently left SM Entertainment.)

Geuk7 debuted with the equally farcical conceit that its seven members were time travellers from the Joseon era. But unlike Exo and numerous other boy groups that have shed their debut concepts, Geuk7 has stuck with it in the six years that have followed their debut.

\-------- not writing this -------

“They undebuted us for _this_?” said Jaebeom. 

“We spoke about not referring to it as an ‘undebut’,” says their erstwhile manager.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my view I think there are 2 ways this story could have gone -- either in a purely cracky direction, or as a heightened? exploration of idol life in that... how much of your personality are you willing to perform in order to ~make it~ as an idol. 
> 
> Invariably Lee Seung-gi would have appeared at some point.


	4. PDs!AU - ficlet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this photo](https://twitter.com/sseuniewanggae/status/1175898152890765317?s=19).

"I don't understand why the Music Department have to go _so_ over the top for the annual report photoshoot," grumbled Youngjae, as the gaggle of Music Department PDs arranged themselves impeccably on the rooftop and gazed confidently into the cameras.

"I don't think it's over the top," said Bambam, who was wearing his deep plum-coloured suit with the air of a man long deprived of the opportunity to put on anything other than t-shirts and sneakers.

Jinyoung, in the meantime, was trying his best not to stare at Jaebeom, which he'd been told could be "intense and off-putting". 

"Jaebeom-hyung doesn't mind," Jinyoung had said, when the joint coalition of Mark, Jackson and Youngjae had approached him for an intervention.

"Not for _him_," Youngjae had clarified. "For everyone else."

Jackson had handed him a folder (most likely compiled by Rookie Hwang) containing printouts of photographs taken at various company events. Jinyoung at sports day, staring intensely at someone off-camera. Jinyoung at KBS Loves The Beach, looking positively murderous. Jinyoung at KBS Family Picnic with his mouth half open.

"I think," Jackson had said helpfully, "this was after Im PD came out of the dunk tank."

Having been released from their shoot, the Music Department PDs were now stalking off towards the staircase. Except Jaebeom, who was striding across the rooftop, hair fluttering (only slightly because of judicious application of pomade) in the wind, scowling slightly -- the Im PD scowl of 'we are making _art_'.

"Close your mouth," hissed Youngjae.

Jinyoung shut it with a click. 

"Fuck," said Jaebeom, coming towards them. "My ankles are freezing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to make a joke about his ankles!


End file.
